


Kidnapped

by HR4



Category: Spooks | MI-5
Genre: Captivity, F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Love, Trapped, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-07
Updated: 2014-01-07
Packaged: 2018-01-07 21:48:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1124757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HR4/pseuds/HR4
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set post S9, Harry and Ruth are kidnapped in broad daylight from a London street. Their captors turn ever more violent, but will they be found by their colleagues in time?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ruth and Harry had been kidnapped from the centre of London in broad daylight. Originally they’d been simply taking the air by the Thames, having one of their conversations in which all the importance between them was never spoken aloud. They’d watched the river and it’s boat traffic before Harry had gently suggested that they should go back to Thames House. She had smiled, nodded and then felt a blow to the back of the head and everything had gone dark.

She had woken up in a dank poorly lit room, which had to be underground judging by the lack of daylight and the incredibly cold temperature, with Harry sitting on the floor next to her, looking worried.

“How long have I been out of it?” she asked groggily, as she moved to sit up as opposed to being sprawled on the floor.

“About fifteen minutes,” he said, the concern clear in his voice. “Are you okay?”

“No, my head’s throbbing,” she said, raising a hand to the lump on her head. “So we’re still in London?”

“I’d guess,” he said. “Though they threw a black bag on my head, so I have no idea where we are.”

“I assume we don’t have our phones? Or anything to let the grid know where we are?”

“No Ruth,” he said quietly. They fell into a highly uncomfortable silence, neither knowing quite what to say. After the better part of three hours of silence, with no more than the occasional question of “are you okay?” Harry couldn’t bear it any longer.

"Will you say something?" he said across the room to the dark shadow against the wall.

"What would you like me to say?" Ruth said trying to hold it together and keep her fear from showing in her voice. She didn't want Harry to think she was frightened or a coward, even though she was terrified.

"Talk about anything," Harry said. He heard her shift slightly and move before she replied.

"I have nothing to say." Harry sighed and decided to be quiet. "I'm sorry," Ruth said after a moment. "I know you're only trying to help."

"Yes," Harry replied. He took a moment of consideration before doing anything else. He got up from the floor and moved closer to Ruth, knowing that he would never have done this in usual circumstances. He leant back against the wall and knew Ruth was next to him doing the same. Harry slowly reached out and took her hand in his. She was cold but he felt her grip tighten on his hand.

"I'm scared," Ruth whispered.

"I know," Harry replied gently.

"What do they want?" Ruth asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Harry said. He rubbed the back of her hand gently as time ticked slowly by. After ten minutes or so Ruth inched closer to him and leant her head on his shoulder. Encouraged, Harry put an arm around her back and pulled her close.

Harry thought this was incredibly ironic. He had wanted to hold her like this for years and it had taken unknown kidnappers to lock them in a freezing cold underground room for him to be able to touch her the way he wanted to. After a few minutes she started shaking, and he wasn’t sure if it were cold or fear. Harry pulled her closer and she didn't resist. Under any other circumstances she would love how close he was holding her. It would make her heart race and her skin tingle with excitement. Ruth turned her head as she heard people approaching the locked door.

"Its okay," Harry lied easily, keeping his arm around her tightly. The door opened and two men came in accompanied by three bodyguards, all heavily built. Harry could feel Ruth's breathing become uneven and knew she was frightened, try as hard as she might to pretend otherwise.

"I want to know where Titania is," the man who appeared to be the leader said simply with a Russian accent. Harry sighed, now knowing what this was about. Titania was the codename of a top level Russian spy who had been captured by MI5. They had gained a lot of valuable information from her. She had been turned and had willingly betrayed Russia once she had realised she wasn't going to be given back to them at any time in the near future. She had had two choices. Imprisonment or being turned to help the UK and their interests. Her current location was higher than top secret. And Harry didn't know where she was.

"I don't know," Harry said truthfully, knowing full well he wouldn't be believed. He was proved right.

"I am aware that you are a good liar, Sir Harry," the Russian said with a raised eyebrow. "So you could either tell me or I will start to get very annoyed. And when I'm annoyed, I get angry, then violent. So I suggest you tell me where Titania is and save us all a lot of effort and time."

"I can't tell you what I don't know," Harry said simply.

"Fine," the man said with the clear decision in his voice. He nodded to two of his bodyguards who moved very quickly. They grabbed Ruth almost instantly and dragged her to the other side of the room with them before Harry could do more than blink and feel his heart fill with dread.

"No!" Harry shouted loudly and reached for Ruth. He was rewarded with a heavy punch in the stomach, which pushed him back on the floor. He could do nothing but watch as a guard leaned over her, clearly wanting him to stay put.

"Third and final time," the Russian said, moving aside so Harry could see the fear on Ruth's face as she was flanked by two bodyguards. "Where is Titania?"

Harry sighed before answering. He honestly didn't know where their Russian traitor was but he knew they wouldn't believe him. "I don't know. Don't…" he had intended to say don't hurt her but he never got that far. One of the bodyguards had moved swiftly and grabbed Ruth's hand. He stretched out one of her fingers and bent it backwards, and kept going until Ruth screamed as she felt the bone in her finger snap in two. Harry winced, hating the sound of her pain. Ruth stopped screaming but she couldn't hold back her whimpers as the guards let go of her and sh1e crumpled to the floor.

"I'll be back in half an hour," the Russian said. "To let you think about it, before I really start to get angry." All the men left the room and the door was swiftly locked. Harry immediately moved to Ruth's side and helped her sit up, leaning against the wall and trying to ignore the pain she was in.

"Come on," he said quietly to her, wrapping his arms around her, careful of her injured hand.

"I didn't think…" Ruth said breathing heavily. "I didn't expect him to hurt me so soon."

"I know," Harry said into her hair gently. "I'm sorry." Ruth started shaking violently and Harry held her closer, trying to warm her up.

"You don't have the information they want do you?" Ruth said simply.

"No," Harry replied. "I wasn't lying." Ruth swallowed trying very hard not to imagine what they were going to do to her when they didn't get the information they wanted. He didn’t particularly care what they did to him, but he wouldn’t be able to bear it if they seriously hurt her.

"It's going to be okay," Harry said quietly.

"Now you **are** lying," Ruth said a faint smile colouring her face.

"Maybe," Harry said. "I can lie brilliantly. Always have done, but I've never really been able to lie to you."

"I'm just perceptive," Ruth said trying to get more comfortable on the cold floor. "What are they going to do to me?"

"Ruth…"

"I can live with a broken finger," Ruth said quietly. "I can live with a bit of pain. But I don't know how I'm going to cope if…" Harry turned to her and kissed her with the main intention of getting her to be quiet. He didn't want to think of Ruth in pain. Ever. After a moment though, he kept kissing her because he wanted to. He desperately wanted to. He suddenly realised he was probably taking advantage of her so he parted from her reluctantly.

"Sorry," he said briefly, but he still kept an arm around her. He couldn't bring himself to let her go completely.

"Don't be," Ruth replied after a beat of silence. She turned to him and buried her head in his chest. In spite of the danger she was in, she revelled in the scent of him. To be this near him had been a dream of hers for years. Harry stroked her hair lightly.

"How's your hand?" he asked quietly.

"Don't talk about it," Ruth said. "Then I can ignore it."

"Okay," Harry agreed. He pressed his lips against her hair gently. And continued to hold her in the silence.


	2. Chapter 2

The door opened again and Harry's arms tensed around Ruth, not wanting to let go of her. Not to those torturers. The Russian leader looked at them with a cold grin on his face.

"I know you care for this woman," he said fiercely. "I don't want to hurt her, but I will if I have to. Until you tell me what I need to know." Harry's arms around her were so tight that Ruth was starting to find it painful, her lungs finding it hard to get air.

"Harry…" she said quietly.

"Shut up," he replied straight away. It happened so quickly that Harry was hardly aware of it. Ruth was dragged away from his arms by the bodyguards. He got up and tried to get to her but was rewarded with a slap around the face and a guard holding his arms back painfully, making Harry’s shoulders ache, and making him forced to look at Ruth. Who looked resigned to her fate. The fear seemed to have left her and he felt a powerful surge of love for this brave woman.

"Where is Titania?" the Russian repeated. It was already getting boring, being asked a question to which he didn't know the answer.

"I don't know," Harry said which resulted in Ruth being slapped around the face instantly. Harry winced as if he had been struck himself. "If I knew where your Russian traitor was, I would tell you. I really would." And that was true. To keep Ruth from being hurt, from being in pain he would have given away the location of anything. This was harder to watch than the Albany affair had been. Because he could actually see her agony. Could hear her heavy breathing as she tried to control her pain and he had every belief that these men would hurt her.

With Lucas it had been different. As he had worked with Lucas North, he knew him. He knew that Lucas wouldn’t cause Ruth unnecessary pain, even if things had gone bad. If Ruth had died there, it wouldn’t have been a painful death. No, this was worse. They could kill her right in front of him, and he could do nothing but watch.

"He's telling the truth," Ruth said quietly. The Russian turned to face her for a moment.

"I don't believe you," he said in a light voice. "I'm bored and running low on time. Tell me where she is or I will break her arm." Harry struggled violently against the man holding him tightly and failed to get free. He watched Ruth pale significantly as they grabbed her arm and held it out, with a bat held ominously near her.

"Listen to me," Harry said playing for time. "It isn't that I don't want to tell you, or that I'll break with the pressure you're putting me under. Trust me, I would have told you by now. But I can't give you information that I don't know. I‘m not senior enough."

"Wrong answer," the Russian replied smashing the bat down on Ruth's arm. Ruth's scream went through Harry as if the pain were his own. The Russians left the cell and locked the door. Instantly Harry was at Ruth's side, where she had crumpled the second she had been let go. Her breathing was shaky and shallow and she didn't think she could move.

"Ruth," he said in a low voice, stroking her hair. She whimpered quietly with her eyes still closed. "I'm so sorry," Harry said.

"Help me… to sit up," Ruth said heavily. He did and after long moments she was leaning against the wall, Harry next to her. He took her left arm in his and studied the break in her arm. It looked painful as hell. He closed his eyes knowing what he was going to have to do.

"Ruth, I'm going to have to realign your break," he said quietly. "If I don't, it'll be much worse when we finally get out of this."

"Are we going to get out of this Harry?" Ruth asked, looking at him carefully, wanting honesty from him.

"You have to believe that we will," he replied. "Beth, Dimitri and Alec will be working on it. And Tariq with his genius computer wizardry. We need to help you now." Ruth looked down at her arm and knew Harry was right. And it was going to hurt.

"Do it," she said quietly but firmly. Harry took a deep breath and held her arm gently. He knew this would be agony for both of them. When a minute passed and Harry hadn't moved, Ruth took his hand with her good arm. "Just do it. Do it quickly before I can worry about the pain." She had barely finished the sentence when she felt a white hot agony go through her.

"Sh," Harry pleaded with her, stroking her face lightly. Ruth hadn't even realised she had been screaming until he said that. She tried with all her might to stop and managed it. Her face had ended up being buried in Harry's shirt which was soaking up her tears. She took several deep shaky breaths and managed to stop crying.

"I'm sorry," he said again.

"It’s not your fault," Ruth said. She took deep breaths and was about to turn her head to look at Harry when she changed her mind. He was stroking her hair softly and it was the one thing that was taking her mind off of the pain. She worried that if she moved, he'd stop touching her. And she really didn't want that. She closed her eyes and gave in to his touch.

"No," Harry said calmly, his voice near her ear. "Do not fall asleep. You cannot lose consciousness."

"Why not?" she mumbled with her eyes still shut.

"Because I'm telling you not to," Harry said, his voice even closer to her ear. She could feel his breath whispering against her earlobe.

"I'm in too much pain," she said lowly. Harry didn't reply but kissed her cheek. A ghost of a smile flowed onto her face.

"I can't move," Ruth said quietly. "Could you do that again?" Harry smiled and did what she asked, holding her face with such softness and tenderness it almost broke her heart. She closed her eyes and drifted away from the pain.


	3. Chapter 3

 

Harry looked at Ruth, both worried that she was sleeping, and thankful that she had escaped from her pain, at least temporarily. He gently moved her so that he could stand up when their captors came back, as they surely would soon. He moved around her and looked into her face when she was on the floor. He stroked her hair gently and softly kissed her lips, even though she was unaware of it. He looked at her arm which was at least straight now but covered in angry red marks already. He made sure her pulse was steady at least four times before he got up and tried to wake up his aching joints.

As soon as he did, he heard footsteps approaching. He walked right up to the door, planning to punch whoever walked through it, just for his own satisfaction if nothing else. The door opened and he followed through his intention, landing a punch in the jaw of the lead Russian. He drew back for a second try but the bodyguards had quickly grabbed him. And to make matters worse they were now holding a gun each.

"That was a stupid move," the Russian said rubbing his jaw lightly. Harry hated the fact that the man was still smiling. In his experience a man like that with a grin on his face was never a good thing. The man looked at Ruth and stared for a moment. "Not as strong as I had anticipated then."

Harry fought the urge to hit him because he knew that firstly it wouldn't help and secondly he couldn't move from the guards holding him still. The Russian picked Ruth up off of the floor. She moaned in her sleep as she reluctantly drifted out of her unconscious state. Harry could tell when she woke up because her breathing changed from low and peaceful in sleeping to uneven and ragged again.

"Good," the Russian said close to Ruth's face. "Glad you're back with us."

"Why?" Harry said simply. "So you can torture an innocent woman some more?"

"If it gets you talking, then yes," the Russian replied. Ruth swallowed uncomfortably, wondering what horrors were in store for her this time. Then she saw the Russian leader point a handgun at her head.

"So your great plan is to shoot her is it?" Harry asked, feeling his blood run cold. He was talking to try and buy some time. "And then what? What will you threaten me with if she's dead?" As he said it, the image of Ruth, lying dead on the floor came all too easily to him. Blood pouring from a small circular wound on her head, blank eyes watching him with damnation. He forcibly pushed that aside and focused on the terrorist in front of him.

"Yes, there will be nothing to hold over you," the Russian replied. "But your friends are getting dangerously close to finding us and I would like to avoid that. So, I have to get out of here, and if you won't tell me where Titania is, I'd like to live up to my violent reputation before vanishing again." Harry swallowed uncomfortably. If they were planning to kill her anyway…

"So, one more time. Where is Titania?" The Russian held the gun to Ruth's temple.

"She's in a London safe house," Harry invented on the spot.

"You're lying," the Russian replied. "We know she left London by a secret helicopter flight last week. Hence the reason we need your information. So where is she?"

"I… I don't know," Harry said looking into Ruth's eyes, trying to ignore the gun pointing at her head. The Russian sighed and shook his head at Harry, as if disappointed. Harry flinched when he heard the blast of a gunshot echo around the room.

The Russian had pulled the trigger.


	4. Chapter 4

Ruth cowered against the Russian who was holding her. She couldn't believe that he had actually fired the gun. Into the wall, but he had still pulled the trigger. The noise was still reverberating around her ears, louder than she imagined it would sound.

"I missed on purpose," he said to Harry. "I will not miss again. Point blank range, I don't think those are good odds." Harry swallowed, knowing he couldn't lose her. A detached part of his brain wondered if it was possible that he could lose someone he wasn't sure he'd ever really had. Then he looked at her beautiful blue eyes and decided that it was entirely possible.

"If you kill her, I promise you, I will not rest until you die a long, slow, drawn out and painful death. And I will make sure it is ten times more painful than what you have put her through." Harry was breathing heavily, knowing time was almost out.

"See, I knew you cared about this woman," the Russian said with a small smile. "And I need to find Titania. I don't like committing murder, but we all do things we don't like in life. When they're necessary."

"Murder is never necessary," Harry replied.

"You've never killed anyone in your MI5 career? I find that hard to believe."

"Of course I have," Harry said. "But I have never killed someone who was innocent."

"This woman is a spy. She goes through countless government network computers and their systems for MI5. I don't think innocent describes the work that spies do."

Ruth closed her eyes, not wanting to look into Harry's sad hazel ones with her death arriving quickly. Then she heard a noise she hadn't expected. The door had been thrown open and she opened her eyes to see someone bursting through it who wasn't Russian.

She felt the tip of the gun push hard against her temple, solid and cold metal as strangers barged into the cell. She also saw that Harry had a gun pointed at his head too and tried desperately not to imagine him with a bullet in his brain.

"Dimitri," she breathed as she recognised him, feeling relief in spite of the fact a gun was threatening to blow her brains out. Everything suddenly happened very quickly. There were a lot of gunshots, almost simultaneously. Ruth ducked and hit the floor out of instinct, praying that Harry had the sense to do something similar. Suddenly she felt a lot of pain in her lower leg and knew she had been hit by a bullet. Ruth actually felt grateful that it had hit something as superficial as her leg, rather than her lungs or her heart. She knew that would hurt a lot worse and probably be fatal. Then as quickly as it had started, the shooting stopped.

Ruth looked around and saw a lot of bodies on the floor. Dead looking Russian bodies. Then she felt her face being touched gently by Harry.

"Are you okay?" he said filled with concern.

"I think so," Ruth said. She tried to stand up and then remembered the bullet in her leg which throbbed so painfully that she almost blacked out as she tried to put pressure on it. "It seems my leg isn’t in good shape though. How about you?"

"I'm fine," Harry said quickly. "Don't waste energy worrying about me."

"Mm," she said as her eyes drifted closed again. It had been one long and painful day and her body had had enough.


	5. Chapter 5

 

Ruth awoke but kept her eyes closed. She could feel clean sheets, her head pillowed comfortingly. She was in a bed, which almost made her smile. Much more comfortable than her cell. There was a regular beeping coming from her left and she opened her eyes. It was hospital equipment and she felt glad that she was safe, finally. Safe and out of pain.

"You're awake," Harry said sounding relieved. Ruth turned her head to the right and saw Harry sitting next to her. She smiled slightly, seeing the look of worry in his eyes.

"So we got out of there then?" Ruth said quietly.

"Thanks to Dimitri and the others," Harry said. "You had me worried for a while there. If you could avoid taking any other bullets, I would be grateful."

"I didn't do it on purpose," Ruth said with some of her spirit coming back. "I also didn't intend to have my left arm and left index finger smashed into pieces."

"I know," Harry replied. He looked very tired and worried so she gave him a brief smile. Was he worried about her, she wondered. Had they finally finished with all of their tiptoeing around one another? God, she hoped so.

Ruth stretched out her right hand for his slowly. He knew what she was doing and he reached for her hand quickly and squeezed it gently. Ruth smiled unguardedly at him. Harry felt sad, because it had been too long since he had seen her happy. Far, far too long.

"Are they all dead?" Ruth asked, her memories flashing back in bits and pieces. She wasn't sure what was real and what she was imagining.

"Yes."

"Good," Ruth said sincerely. "I'd hate to think the man who broke my arm in two got away with it. Although I'm not sure his death for my left arm is a fair exchange."

"He got off lightly," Harry said with a growl in his voice. "If I had got my hands on him, he wouldn't have died quickly from a gunshot. Trust me."

Ruth took a moment before she decided to say what she had been thinking, not knowing how Harry would take it. "Is that because he kidnapped two MI5 officers or is it because he hurt me?"

"It's because I never want to hear you scream like that again," Harry said, looking deeply into her eyes. "It's because he hurt you. I don't want anyone to hurt you. Ever." Ruth wanted to move closer to him but her arm in a cast made movement very difficult. Harry saw her shift and didn't wait to be asked. He leant closer to her and kissed her lips gently. It took a long minute for him to let her go.

"I honestly never imagined kissing you from a hospital bed," Ruth said calmly. Harry smiled and kissed her again, firmer this time. She sighed with pure happiness when he stopped. She looked deeply into his dark eyes for a long time. Until the pain medication she had been given made her close her eyes with tiredness.

"I'll be here when you wake up," Harry said.

"Mm," Ruth said quietly, letting herself go. Harry watched her for a moment, wondering if she was asleep. He decided to take a chance and told her something that had been dying to leave his lips for years.

"I love you," Harry murmured into her ear.

"I heard that," Ruth said quietly with a smile over her face and her eyes still closed. "I love you too," was the last thing she said before she drifted off into sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Look, Harry, I have a broken arm, I haven't lost my faculties," Ruth said annoyed as she hobbled out of the taxi and up the steps to her house. Harry had hold of her good arm and was helping her into her home. She loved that he was concerned about her, but after about twenty four hours in hospital it had begun to get annoying.

"Ruth. You took a bullet in your leg, have a broken index finger, a broken radius and fractured ulna in your left arm. I'm helping you. So get used to it." Harry stared at her and she knew she wasn't going to win this argument. The determination in his eyes was too great.

"Fine," Ruth said. She handed Harry her key (who was now smiling irritatingly at her) and he unlocked the door. Ruth walked into her living room and sat on the sofa. Without even asking Harry walked through to her kitchen and switched the kettle on. He came back with two mugs of tea and handed her one carefully, sitting next to her on the sofa. Ruth raised her eyebrows as he watched her anxiously.

"I am perfectly capable of drinking a cup of tea!" Ruth said frustrated.

"Okay," Harry replied carefully.

"I hate to think what you're going to be like when I go back to work," Ruth said. "If you're this bad when I am sitting down, resting in my own house."

"You are taking time off of work," Harry said firmly. "I insist."

"Of course," Ruth said rolling her eyes, taking a sip. "But when I get bored of staring at these four walls, I will be coming into Thames House and sitting behind my desk. How much trouble can I possibly get into from behind my desk?"

"You want me to answer that?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, when you need your analyst back let me know," Ruth said. Harry put a hand underneath her chin and tilted her head towards his. She didn't need much persuasion to kiss him. She felt Harry run a hand through her hair and wished fervently she had two working arms to pull him closer. One just didn't seem to be enough somehow. Ruth was thoroughly enjoying herself when Harry's mobile phone rang. He broke away from her reluctantly but kept hold of her good hand.

"What?" he asked in a curt voice, answering the phone. He sighed and Ruth could tell that there was a problem. "Fine. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"You have to go," Ruth surmised.

"Yes, I do," Harry said. He kissed her, intending to be brief, but it turned into a longer embrace.

"I thought you had to go," Ruth said with a small smile when he finally let her go. Harry looked at her and couldn't resist kissing her once more before leaving.

"I'll call you later," he said before he left her house. Ruth smiled, for once forgetting the fact she had a broken arm and an injured leg.

* * *

 

Ruth had stayed awake, waiting for Harry to call. She wondered if it was pathetic, waiting for her boss to call just because he mentioned he might. But after the past few days she decided to wait for another few minutes. Then that turned into half an hour. Then an hour. She sighed and switched her light off, giving up on hearing the phone ring but putting it on her bedside table just in case. Sleep claimed her almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She woke to hear her phone ringing. Reaching out, she picked it up, even her groggy brain aware that it could only be Harry at this time of night.

"Hello?" she said sleepily.

"I woke you," Harry said instantly. "I'm sorry. I'll let you sleep."

"No don't," Ruth said quickly. "I want to hear your voice." If she had been properly awake she never would have told him that so bluntly on the phone, but it was too late to take the words back.

"Missing me already are you?" Harry teased, feeling his heart race with the words she had said.

"Mm," Ruth said, slipping down under her duvet cover and getting comfortable. "What disaster was it today?" She listened to Harry's voice, letting it wash over her. He explained about a Columbian group who were smuggling both arms and drugs into the capital. Or at least, trying to. Ruth reasoned that she shouldn't feel this happy and relaxed listening to the latest horrors facing the country. But she couldn't help it, the voice doing the telling seemed to calm her like nothing else in the world could.

"Are you still there?" Harry asked after he fell into silence.

"Yes," Ruth replied quietly.

"I shouldn't have called," Harry said. "You're recovering, I should have let you sleep."

"No," Ruth said. "I'm glad you called. I nearly took a taxi to Thames House because I wanted to know what was going on."

"You wouldn't have lasted five minutes before I threw you off of the grid and sent you back home," Harry said with a smile.

"Which is why I gave up on the idea," Ruth replied. "But I will be coming back to work soon."

"Hmm," Harry replied in a stern voice.

"You know you won't stop me," Ruth added.

"I do know," he said. "Will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow night?"

"Yes, of course I will," Ruth said, after only the slightest of pauses.

"It’s that easy?" Harry asked slightly bewildered.

"Having a gun held to my head… Well, it makes me see what's really important. And shuffles my priorities somewhat. You are important to me," she added quietly, blushing even though he couldn't see her.

"I'll pick you up at seven then," Harry said with a hint of a question in his voice.

"Perfect," Ruth said. "But I guess I'll have to go and get some beauty sleep."

"You don't need it," Harry said quickly. "Trust me."

"Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I don't think I'm ever going to get used to you saying that," Harry said quietly. "I love you too." He spoke slowly, as if treasuring the words and enjoying the novelty of them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets a little sweet and very fluffy. Ignore realism for this one, and thanks for reading.

"Thank God I'm back at work," Ruth said as her computer booted up for the day.

"We missed you," Beth said. "Especially a certain miserable man behind that glass window who's been staring at your empty desk for days."

Ruth glanced at Beth, knowing what she was saying but ignored her loaded comment. "I have been going out of my mind without anything to do," Ruth said beginning to type. She was ignoring Harry's office because she knew his eyes were boring into her. She refused to give in and look at him. Half an hour went by when Beth turned to her with a confused look on her face.

"Is there any particular reason Harry's drooling over you?" Beth asked.

"What?" Ruth said looking at her friend.

"Harry hasn't looked away from you once since you sat down," Beth said. "He's watching you even more intensely than usual."

"Not much I can do about that," Ruth said smiling at her keyboard. She felt secretly pleased in a teenage crush kind of way that he couldn't tear her eyes away from her. While her software was working on its face recognition she typed an email to Harry.

_Stop looking at me. Beth's noticing. She tells me you're watching me more than usual. By the way, how much is usual? Ruth x_

Harry kept watching her for a long minute before he read her email. He typed back quickly.

_I can't help looking at you. I keep waiting to wake up from this dream because I still can't believe you're going to marry me tomorrow. Harry._

Ruth smiled wistfully as she read the email from Harry. It didn't take long for her to reply.

_Well I am. I think you need to train your team better because no ones noticed my engagement ring yet and I've been here for nearly an hour. Ruth x._

She pressed send, allowing the light from the computer screen to reflect on her diamond ring for a second. Or two. By the time she refreshed her inbox a message was waiting for her from Harry.

_Maybe they should be given a bigger hint. Come into my office and I'm sure they'll get the point very quickly H x_

_Because that will get our work done and terrorists off the street won't it? Ruth x_

_It's a quiet day. And I can't spend the next few hours wanting to kiss you and doing absolutely nothing about it. So come into my office. H xxx_

Ruth smiled and caught his eye at the same time. He had that smouldering look she knew meant only one thing. He wanted her. She shuffled through a few things on her desk and picked up a stack of files to take into Harry's office. She didn't knock as she never had done and closed the door behind her.

"You don't need an excuse any more," Harry said looking at the files in her hand.

"I know," Ruth replied with a small smile and putting them on his desk. "I'm just so used to it." A charged silence fell in the room which seemed to shrink. Harry moved closer to her and brushed her hair behind her ear gently. Ruth smiled as he touched her lips with his own softly. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him as close to her as she could. She knew that everyone on the grid was watching but also for once, she didn’t care in the slightest. It took a long and passionate minute for them to stop. Harry's hand ended up caressing her cheek lightly, his eyes sparkling at her.

They were interrupted when Harry's phone rang. His hand fell from her face and he answered his phone. Ruth left his office and ignored everyone watching her. They weren't even pretending to work. Ruth sat down and started typing with a permanent smile on her face. She couldn't wait for tomorrow. Because tomorrow she was going to marry the man she had been in love with for almost a decade. It would be a perfect day.


End file.
